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Christmas Examination
1 hour
80 MARKS
Instructions
Mile after mile we went, fighting against the wind, falling into snowdrifts, and navigating
by the lights of the houses. And yet we never saw our audience. We called at house after
house; we sang in courtyards and porches, outside windows, or in the damp gloom of
hallways; we heard voices from hidden rooms; we smelt rich clothes and strange hot food;
we saw maids bearing in dishes or carrying away coffee cups; we received nuts, cakes, figs,
preserved ginger, dates, cough-drops and money; but
we never once saw our patrons.
Everything was quiet: everywhere there was the faint crackling silence of the winter night.
We started singing, and we were all moved by the words and the sudden trueness of our
voices. Pure, very clear, and breathless we sang:
1. What do you think the group is doing outside on such a terrible night? (6)
2. How is the group treated by the people they visit in the first paragraph? (8)
3. The writer uses our five senses to create images of Christmas and winter in this
extract. Can you give examples from the first paragraph to show how he does this?
(10)
4. And two thousand Christmases became real to us then. Choose your favourite
Christmas image in this extract and give two reasons why you like it. (10)
SECTION B: POETRY
READ THE POEM BELOW AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW.
Nature
We have neither Summer nor Winter
Neither Autumn or Spring.
We have instead the days
When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields
Magnificently.
The days when the rain beats like bullets on the roofs
And there is no sound but the swish of water in the gullies
And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.
Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees
And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.
But best of all there are the days when the mango and the log-wood blossom
When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,
When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air,
When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars
And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone. H. D. Carberry
1. Find one example of each of the following poetic devices in the poem above.
a. Alliteration
b. Simile
c. Personification. (6)
2. Do you think the poet likes the weather in Jamaica? Use examples from the poem to
explain your answer. (10)
3. Choose a poem you have studied this year and write one paragraph about why you liked
or disliked it. You must give two reasons and refer to the poem in your answer. (10)
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!